An information system (also referred to as an “IS system”) is an orchestrated collection of computing and networking hardware and software components designed to collectively support some kind of organization (e.g., a partnership, a corporation or a government institution). Advanced information system (IS) configuration and maintenance software tools are migrating to an environment in which detailed object oriented models for specific IS features (e.g., clients, servers, routers, software installations, hardware installations, etc.) are used to effect intelligent and automatic configuration and/or maintenance tasks. Examples include the efforts of the Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) initiative and the Common Information Model (CIM) specification(s) (e.g., the Common Information Model (CIM) Specification published by the Distributed Management Task Force, Inc., Version 2.2, Jun. 14, 1999).
FIG. 1 shows an exemplary depiction of such an object oriented model 100. According to the depiction of FIG. 1, an object is used to represent a server having a dispatcher and worker nodes. Object 101 represents the dispatcher. Objects 102-105 represent the worker nodes and objects 106-109 represent associations between the worker nodes and the dispatcher.
In order to successfully implement maintenance and/or configuration tasks, live “tracking” of the state of an IS system (where, the IS system has two or more IS components having at least one association between them, where, a “component” is some identifiable unit of functionality) is often beneficial. A problem, however, is that the specific changes made to an IS system (e.g., by some kind of “event” (like a failure or bring-up)) may be “lost” or otherwise not presentable for purposes of updating a detailed object oriented model of the IS system to reflect the changes. If so, all that is available is the “new” state of the IS system (i.e., the state of the IS system after the change).